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2.7 Eco Boost swap ???


johnro6659

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I have the chance to get a 2015 2.7 Eco Boost engine from a totaled F150 for almost nothing. The truck is a wreck but the engine and trans are OK. The engine does have a lot of miles and would probably benefit from a rebuild. Has anyone attempted this swap?? I am looking for any info on problems I might encounter if I decide to do this. The 2.9 in my Ranger Bigfoot is strong low miles about 82K original. Finding any High Performance parts for these is slim to none. The 2.7 is 325hp stock!


Thanks in advance!
 


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Beware that engine had some problems early on. Out of round cylinders and incorrectly made valve guides.
 

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Haven't seen it attempted yet, but anything is possible with enough time, money and skill.

It'll be similar to a 5.0 swap I imagine. You'll need to figure out motor mounts, exhaust routing, fuel lines, radiator and hoses, oil pan clearance, oil and/or trans cooling, power steering pump and lines and of course getting it all wired up and running.

The engine looks compact from what pictures I've seen, but you may run into fitment issues on the heater/AC box, steering shaft, transmission tunnel, etc.
 

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You would probably be the first.

Power steering will be a big issue. The 2.7 has no PS pump, the F-150 had been using electric steering for a few years already when that engine came into play. You will probably have to go manual.

Fuel lines should be easy actually. The EB engines use a low pressure system that runs between 35 and 50 PSI to move fuel from the tank to the engine. Then it uses a cam-driven HP pump to get the pressures needed for direct injection. It should really be a matter of hooking up your stock lines. I would try modifying the stock lines to use something like an FG-1036 filter. This will deal with pressure regulation.

CAC mounting, intake and exhaust work will all need to be custom. So will the engine mounts, more than likely.

Fitment may be an issue as well. OHC engines in general are wide, wider than an OHV counterpart. The OHV 4.0 fits in a gen 1 Ranger nicely, even with AC. The OHC 4.0, which is basically the same engine block with different heads, does not clear the air box even without AC. I imagine a 2.7 EB is going to give you similar issues.

Depending on what you run into with width issues, you may have steering shaft issues.

I think you can get stand-alone control setups which would be much easier to do than trying to use the F-150's stock stuff.

Last thing I can thing of, I am not 100% sure what trans was put behind the 2.7L, but the 6R80 that was used with all the other F-150s engines in those years is HUGE. Even with the V6 bell it rivals a ZF5 for size. Expect to need a few inches of body lift just to fit the transmission.
 
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85_Ranger4x4

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You would probably be the first.

Power steering will be a big issue. The 2.7 has no PS pump, the F-150 had been using electric steering for a few years already when that engine came into play. You will probably have to go manual.
Or convert to electric like BlackBII.
 

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I think you can get stand-alone control setups which would be much easier to do than trying to use the F-150's stock stuff.
The stand alone control pack options look great, but you're at $1700-2200 dollars just for the wiring and computer. Assuming you could keep the engine and trans together from the donor vehicle, what does that buy you aside from eliminating other body functions and anti theft, etc?
 

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The stand alone control pack options look great, but you're at $1700-2200 dollars just for the wiring and computer. Assuming you could keep the engine and trans together from the donor vehicle, what does that buy you aside from eliminating other body functions and anti theft, etc?
These newer vehicles have module networks and functions that have become incredibly interdependent. I would not want to try and take the engine/trans from anything 2010 or later and try to put it in an older vehicle without a standalone system. Trying to sort out all the things that computer will be unhappy about with the rest of it's network removed is the things nightmares are made of.

For example, just pull the wiring and the engine/trans computer and put it all in, taking out the unused wires right? The EB engine vehicles (and probably all of them by now) don't have an inertia switch anymore. That function is now part of the air bag control module. And it isn't as simple as cutting two wires out of a plug and attaching them to each other, or running a single new wire straight to the pump. It is a networked signal that no accident has happened and it is ok to enable the fuel pump.
 

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The standalone modules allow you to run a manual transmission.

Air bag interconnects, ABS interconnects, lighting interconnects, dash (both instruments and center console) interconnects are all required before the truck will move off the driveway.

And you haven't got to programming the automatic for a much lighter vehicle.

I'm not sure Ford ever produced a 2.7 standalone pack and I think they have discontinued the 3.5 one. Aftermarket will probably come up with something if there is demand for it.
 

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Thanks for both replies. That's what I was afraid of but didn't know for sure. Almost enough to tempt me to go true standalone with megasquirt or similar.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk



Edit - apparently Megasquirt doesn't support DI yet but Motec does. Doing some reading...
Edit 2 - the Motec ECU's that support DI start at almost $4k. Yikes.
 
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johnro6659

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Thanks guys, I figured I would probably have to take the whole wiring harness out and even the wiring in the dash etc. Figuring out the wiring will probably be the biggest issue. Many years ago I had a Tbird SC that got t-boned, I got the same year Merc Cougar and swapped the the engine. I took the complete harness in the engine bay which plugged right into the existing Cougar I also took out the ECU/ECM as well. The car would never start! After I tried and tried I finally got a Ford Mechanic to tell me that I should have taken the complete under dash harness. Even though everything plugged in there were differences. Ended up tossing the original 3.8 back in after I rebuilt it. Sold off the engine and most of the parts. I still have the Supercharger though. I figure this might be a nightmare. I hate to let the engine go especially because I am getting it for almost nothing. Of course I will rebuild it, it does have some high mileage on it. I plan on rebuilding the 2.9 either way. Even though it runs fine I would like to get a little more out of it if I have to keep it.
 

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The standalone modules allow you to run a manual transmission.

Air bag interconnects, ABS interconnects, lighting interconnects, dash (both instruments and center console) interconnects are all required before the truck will move off the driveway.

And you haven't got to programming the automatic for a much lighter vehicle.

I'm not sure Ford ever produced a 2.7 standalone pack and I think they have discontinued the 3.5 one. Aftermarket will probably come up with something if there is demand for it.
The 3.5 pack is still available, but I think you're right about the 2.7.
 

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My credo
it is easier to fix and understand than "her"
they (ford) are looking at several options for s/a. the 2.7 and a few other setups in the wings i cant see as candidates though.


you can build emulators for c.a.n. links...you can swap over the air bag stuff as well with it disabled.

unlocking the system will allow for the secondary programming needed to dumb it down.

i see this happening before offering all of the separate stand alone controllers per platform.



easy is full integration. if you can get the complete truck you can do it. i had access to a fresh 2.7 not long after they came out and it was priced well....no use for it though. i would rather have the 2.3 for the b2. the v6 units occupy quite a bit of space. but they are light for what they are.


if i swapped one into my truck i cant see it getting better then 16-18 mpg freeway..10-13 town.
 

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If you do the swap.....what would it cost for me to get my hands on your old 2.9?
 

johnro6659

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If you do the swap.....what would it cost for me to get my hands on your old 2.9?
Sorry, The engine swap is off the table! I was sick, I waited too long and my friend sold the truck for parts! His wife was on him to get it off the lawn! LOL I guess the 2.9 is going to have to stay. Now I need to do some research on getting more out of it.


John
 

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